Advertising-sign



R. lvl. CRAIG.

l Anvmnsm slGN.

APPLICTWN FILED AUG21| 1917. l l @9%3'? Patented Aug. 5, 1919.

; 2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

R. IVI. CRAIG.

ADVERTISING SIGN APPLlcATloN HLED AuG.21. |917.

Patented A110*u 5, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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RICHARD M. CR/MG; F SAN N'JDUNIU, TEXS.

AJDVERTISEIN (1t-SIGN' matassa Specicatibn of Letters Patent. Ppytmgmtgd A ugo 59 yygm Application filed hugust 21, 1917. Serial No. i'll.

T o all whom it may concern:

Be it nknown that I, RICHARD M. CRArG, a citizen of the nited States, residing at San Antonio, in the county of Bexar and State' of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Advertising-Signs, ot which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to advertising signs and more particularly to that class which are displayed by illumination. lWhile there are many signs of this type now in general use they do not attract as much attention as is desired nor as much attention as is warranted by the expense oftheir installation and upkeep. Ordinarily these signs are stationary and are intermittently illuminated for the purpose of attracting attention thereto or in some instances the sign is painted or otherwise depicted upon a traveling band, the motion of which also is intended to attract attention. ll'ith the object in view ot providing a sign whichwill attract more at-` tention than signs ot' the general type above mentioned and which will at the same time be no more expensive than the ordinary signs bot-h to install and maintain, the present invention aims to provide a sign which, in operation, will appear t-o be animated, will be displayed with colors and in addition to the feature of apparent animation, will also travel during display so as to adapt it for the successive display of a number of different signs or the successive portions of a single sign.

More specifically, the invention aims to provide in an advertising sign, a traveling band bearing varlous advertising matter such, for example, as -gures which will ap-` pear animatedwhen the slgn 1s 1n operat1on or will apparently change their outline or position, letters or igures which will apparently shrink and expand, or apparently become alternately broad and narrow, ete, the band being illuminated during its travel and the arrangement of the band and construction of the apparatus as a whole being designed to automaticallyv accomplish the results stated.

Briefly stated. the band ot the sign bears advertising matter, such, for example, as letters or other symbols printed or otherwise depicted in superposed relati on in different positions or different dimensions, figures of movable objects, of persons, or of animals, etc., also printed or otherwise depicted in superposed relation in di'erent positions, the

superposed or overlapping impressions being in dilterent colors, such, for example, as red and green or red and bluish green and means belng provided for illuminating the display stretcher the bandalternately with red and green or red and bluish green light, the green outlines ot' the sign being 'rendered visi-ble alone when the red light is dashed and the red outlines alone being rend ered visible when the green or bluish green hghtis flashed.

.'ll`he invention/ also aims to provide in a slgn of the character generally described above, a` display band ofhtransparent or semi-transparent material bearing the sign characters upon its reverse side so that its plain'side will be exposed to view when the sign 1s not in operation thereby giving to the slgn an air of mystery which enhances its advertising value as when not in operatlon no indication is given as to the manner in which the results are produced when the sign is illuminated'and in operation.

Another aim of the invention is t0 provide in connection with the lights for illu minating the sign, a flasher which is so constructed as to alternately supply current to the red and green. lights and between the periods of illumination be inactive for a short period of time so as to increase the effect of animation due to persistence of vision during the period .of comparative darkness or occultation.

lln the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a perslnctive view of the advertising sign embodying the present invention;

lFig; Qis a horizontal sectional view therethrough:

ll" ig. 3A is a vertical front to rearsectional view on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2,

'Fig t is a perspective view ofthe rotary Flasher for alternately closing the circuit through the red and green lights;

' lFig. 5 is a perspective view of the display lband removed from the casing of the sign;

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the wiring for the lights, motor, and rotary Hasher.

The mechanism ot the sign is mounted within a suitable casing which is here shown as rectangular and relativelyT long and shallowT although it will be understood that the casing may assume various other shapes and relative dimensions and that it may be "ing open at its front and having fitted in its open front a transparent pane 6 of glass ortother material suitable f'or the purpose. It is preferable that the top 2 of the casing be removable so that the display band may be readily removed when desired and another band carrying different advertising matter substituted therefor, and the said band is endless and is passed about rolls which are arranged ina manner which will now be described. Two of the rolls, indicated :by the numeral 7, are mounted within the casing at one end thereof for free rotation and a similar pair of rolls 8 is mounted within the casing at the other end thereof. A drive roll 9 is mounted in suit- 'fable bearings near the first-mentioned end of the casing and is driven from an electric motor as will be presently described. The display band, which is indicated by the numeral 10, is passed about the `rolls 7, 8 and 9 in the manner clearly shown in Fig.

2 of the drawings, and also about another roll 11, which is mounted Within the casing at the last-mentioned end thereof and rearwardly of the rolls 8 and which is held under tension by vmeans of a suitable spring or springs 12 so that the band 10 is at all times held taut and is caused to frictionally engage the roll 9 seas to be caused to travel when the last-mentioned roll is rotated. The electric motor above referred to is indicated by the numeral 13 and a belt 14 is driven from the shaft of this motor and 'passes about a relatively large pulley 15.

Rotatablewith 'the pulley 15 isa smaller pulley 16 about whichis passed-a belt 17 trainedpalso about a relatively large pulley 18 withl which the roll 9 is connected for rotation. It willbe understood, of course, `that the relatively rapid rotation of the shaft 13 is reduced by the gearing just described so that the band wlll be caused to travelat a, relat1vely slow rate of speed behind the transparent pane 6, thus giving full opportunity to read the successive portions of the lsign or signs during the travel of the band and its illumination.

As before stated, the sign characters are printed, painted, or otherwise depicted upon the reverse side or inner surface of the display band 10 and the outer face of the band is leftf plain. Also, as before stated, the band 10 is ofl semitransp'arentor translucent material so that when illuminated from the rear the sign characters or symbols upon its inner face will be displayed to view as the di'splay stretch passes the pane 6. These characters, when in the nature of letters or the like, are, of course, printed backthrough the ends of the other strip.

ed electric lamp sockets 20 for the support of- 4lamps 21 Aand 22 which may be arranged, as

shown in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings, or in any` other suitable manner. In any -event certain of the lamps, as, for example, the lamps 2l, are red and the lamps 22 are bluish green in color, and current is supplied to these lamps through a suitable conductor cord 23 carrying a plug 24 for connection with the usual electric lamp socket, the supply of current being controlled by a rotary flasher which will now be described. The flasher preferably comprises a cylindrical body 25 of fiber or any other suitable non-conducting material mounted for rotation upon a suitable spindle 26 upon the bottom 3 'ofthe casing. `A belt 27 ispassed aboutV the lower end of the body 25 and about a pulley 28 associated with the pulley 18 and in this manner rotary motion is imparted to the fiasher from the motor 13. A continuous contact strip 29 is mounted upon the body 25 and completely circumscribes the same and other contact Strips 30 and 31 are mounted upon the bodyV at diametrically opposite sides thereof and respectively above and below the `strip 29`and each of these strips 30 and 31 extends slightly less than one-half way around the body and the strips are so relatively arranged that the ends of one strip terminate short of a vertical line 1passing n other Words, there is a slight gap between the ends of the two strips which, as will be presently made clear, provides for a 'period of occultation in the operation of the sign. Contact fingers 32, 33 and 34, respectively engage the contact strips 29, 30 and 31 and the strips 30 and 31 are respectively electrically connectthe Wiring for the sign it will be observed that one of the conductor wires is connected to the contact finger 32 and is therefore constantly in circuit with the strip 29. A Wire 37 leads from the contact finger 33 and is in circuit with, for example, the red lamps 21 and a wire 38^leads from the contact fingers 34 and is inv circuit with the bluish green lamps 22. The other conductor wire has branches leading one to the red lamps and the other to the green lamps and the said conductor Wires are.. further in circuit with the motor 13. At this point will be understood that when the sign is in operation, the

motor 13 will be rotated causingthe band to travel and also imparting rotary motion to the flasher 35. As the flasher rotates land as the display stretch of the band passes in front of the electric lamps, the circuit will be alternately closed through `the contact strips and 3l to alternately Hash the red and bluish green lamps. lt will be understood that the periods of illuminations of the display band are interrupted by yperiods of occultation due to the gap between `the ends of the contact strips 30 and 31 and'therefore due to persistence ofvision, the eye will retain what is displayed by iashing of the red lamps, forv example, during said period of occultation, and until the bluish green lamps are flashed.

Referring to lFig. 5 of the drawings it will be observed vthat thewords of the advertising matter have respective letters printed or otherwiseI depicted in overlapped relation and that in the specific instance illustrated, certain of the letters are printed in red, as

l indicated by the numeral 39, and the correspending letters lin green or bluish green, as indicated by the numeral 40, these letters being arrangedl in overlapped or superposed relation and the letters 39, for example, being much shorter and broader than the letters 40. Also in the specific inst-ance illustrated, there is shown the representation of a dancingfgure whichin one position is painted or otherwise depicted in red, as in-` dicated by the numeral 41, and in the other position is depicted in bluish green, as indicated by the numeral lf2. ln like manner, for example, a semaphore signal may 'be shown in one position in bluish green and in another position in red vas may also a rocking chair or, in fact, any other movable object, animal or the like. lt will be 'under.

stood from the foregoing description of the invention that as the display stretch ofl the display band passes the front of the casing, the red and bluish green lights will be automatically alternately flashed to illuminate the said stretch of the band so that in the instance of the'letters 39 and 40, the-letters 39 which are relatively shorland broad will appear ywhen the bluish green lights are flashed and the letters 40 will at such times be invisible. Un the other hand, when the bluish green lights are flashed, the letters 40 which are relatively narrow and tall will appear and due to persistenceof vision 'the eect will be that of alternate expansion and contraction of thel letters. Due to the provision of means for providing for a period of occultation betweenv the periods of illuminationy this change in size and shape of letters will appear more gradual and, in fact, the let- Y ters will seem to actuallyY expand and cona5 as indicated by the numerals t1-and'l2,when

tract. ln like manner in the instance of the hgure vwhich' is printedm dllferent colors,

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the bluish green lamps are. flashed the image lin its position as printed in red will appear and when the red lamps are flashed this position of the image will disappear and the image in the position printed in green will appear. As a result the image will appear as if animated and, of course, this condition will hold true in the movements of animals or objects having, moving parts, such, for example as a railway semaphore, a rocking chair, or the like.v y

'F rom the foregoing description of the inlventlon, it will be further understood that 1n the operation of the sign there are three separate and distinct things which take place to produce the edect of animation or motion, namely, first, the travel of the display band across the open front of the casing, second` y nl the change from one position to another of i the moving parts of an object, and, third, the intermittent flashing of the lights.

l Having thus described the invention,

what is claimed as new is:

l. A device of the class described including a surface bearing in different colors and in superposed relation different positions or shapes of the same symbol, object, or the like to be displayed, and means fordisplaying said surface in the presence of a light medium capable vof absorbing one of said colyors and then displaying said surface in the presence of a light medium capable of absorbing another one-of said colors.

2. A de'vice of the class described includv ing a surface bearing in different colors and y 1n superposed relation different positions or r said colors, occulting the said surface, and

then displaying the said surface in the presence of a light medium capable of absorbing another one of said colors.

3. In a device of the class described, a display surface, means for imparting travel to said surface, the surface bearing in different colors and in superposed relation different positions or shapes of symbols, objects, or the like to be displayed, and means for displaying said surface in the presence of a light medium capable of absorbing one of said colors and then displayingl said surface in the presence of a light medium capable of absorbing another one of said colors.

4. lln a device of the class described,I a display band, means for 'imparting motion thereto. means inclosing the said -band and arranged to display the outer surface of a stretch of the band, the band being of translucent-material and bearing upon its inner surface in different colors and in superposed relation, different positions or shapes of symbols, objects, or the like to @be displayed, and means in rear of the display stretch vof the band for displaying sai-d stretch in the presence of a light'medium' capable of absorbingone of said Colors and then displaying said stretch of the band in the presence of a light medium capable of absorbing the other one of said colors.

5. In a device of the class described, a display band, means, for imparting motion thereto. 'means inclosing, the said bandand arranged to display the outer surface of a stretch of the band; the band being of translucent material and bearing upon its inner surface in different colors and in superposed relation, different positions or shapes oi symbols, objects, or the like to be displayed, and means in rear of the display stretch of the band for displayin said stretch in the presence of alight me giium capable of absorbing one of said colors, occulting the said stretch, and then displaying said stretch of the band in the presence of a light medium capable of absorbing another one of said colors.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

RICHARD M. CRAIG. [11. s] 

